Elevator-door-operating apparatus.



H. PITTS.

ELEVATOR DOOR OPERATING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED MAYI3. 1912. RENEWED s'EPT.23, 19x4.

1,139,901 E Patented May 18, 1915.

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T a; HoodPiits Qua wan,

H. PlTTS.

ELEVATOR 000R OPERATING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY13, 1912. RENEWED SEPT.23, 19:4.

1,139,901. A Patented May18,1915. I 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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/ Smventoo HoocZPi its ED STATES PATENT noon rrrrs, or assure, TEXAS ASSIGNOR, BY manor Amp mnsnnnssmnmnurs, or ONE-BAD? To FRANK Mr. COVEBT- I maron nooneornnhrmenrenaa'rus.

Appliestionfiled-Eay 18, 1912; Serial 1%. (39730}1.

To all. whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, H000 Prrrs, acitizen of.- the United States, residing" at- Austin, in the county of Travis-and Sta-hoof Texas, have invented certain. new and useful Ilmr provements in Elevator -.Door- Operating Apparatus,of which the following; is a specification, reference being had; to the ac companying drawings. I

This invention relates to apparatus for operating elevator-doors and has for its primaryobject to providesiinplei, efiicient and durable electrically controlled means a for all.- tomatioally opening and closing: thedoors of'the elevator shaft.

Still another object of the-inventionis to provide improved means to prevent slamming. or hanging of. the. door when moved to its open or closed position.

Anotherbject 4 ofthe invention isto pro vide a mechanism for theabove purposes which is positive and reliable inits operation and may be installed in elevators of any-well knownconstruction at 'a minimum cost.

These and further objects will more. fully appear from the following specification and accompanying drawings considered together or separately.

For a full understanding of: the invention reference. is to be. had to the followingde soription and accompanying drawing, in which- Figure 1 isa diagrammatic View-showing a series of elevator doors and operating mechanismstherefonwthe electric circuit and the circuit connectmgmeanswhereby the current is transmitted to the motors; Fig;

2 is an enlarged elevation partlyin section of the door operating mechanism; Fig-.- 3 is a section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig.- 2;

' and Fig. 4 is. an end view of the spirally grooved: shaft showing the manner-in which the same-iszactuated from the motor-shaft.

Corresponding and like parts are reformed toin the following descriptionandrdesignated :inthe accompanying. dnawingby like reference-characters:

Referringin detail to the drawings, 5 desigates a series of door openings. which openiintol the. shaft in wh ch the elevator car indicated-at. 6 is movably arranged and actuated by means. ofi any suitable mechanism under the control of the operator. The door openings 5. are adapted to be Specification of Letters Patent nanewease temher 2a1e14. Serial no. seams;

closedby means of suitable doors 7 which are mounted and supported for sliding movement in;- -any approved manner. Adj acent tothevdoon openings 5 the electric motorsr8 ace arranged; saidmotors each having itsrshaft provided with a worm 10. Above doonopening a horizontally disposed shaft 11 is mounted in the bearings 12, said bearings including the boxes 13 and sleeves on collars 1 L fixed upon the shaft.- The boxes; and collars are provided with race- Ways to receive the anti-friction balls 15.. The: shaft-'11 between its ends is spirally.

Patented May, 18,1915,

1'1 is looselyr disposed. A cylindrical casing 18 is mounted upon the sleeve 17 and; is

' provided-with aninternal chamber 19; .A

pin; 20 is longitudinally movable-through 131 118 casing and upon said pin a spring 21 is arranged; within the chamber 19. One

end of, said, spring is fixed to the pin; while the-other end-'thereof'bears against the end wall, of Said chamber. This; spring normally aotsto force one end of the pin into i the spiral-groove 16* of the shafit- 11. The

basewall2 of the spiral" groove: 16" at each end thereof gradually merges into the periphery:- of the. shaft 16 as clearly shown at 16 in- Fig 3, of the drawings; so that the pin will ride out of said. sleeve-17 moves to theen Y of the: shaft in engagement? with the collar- 23, thereby eliminating-the possibility of the motor be? ing. choked, in the event that the same is not stopped, by the disconnection of the; circuit when the sleevereaches.- the end of its' travel upom the gnooved shaft, The other end of the pin-'2Qis. provided with an aperture 2-2 to receive a suitable key whereby the pin may. be held in an inoperative poslt oni out of engagement with the groove ofi the operating shaft when itisdesiredto. operate the elevator doors by hand A oollae 23 fixed oove when the upon the shaft 11 is adapted for engagement by the sleeve 17 to limit the movement of the elevator door when the same is moved to its closed position. Upon one end of the shaft 11 a worm gear 24 is secured to mesh with the worm "10 of the motor shaft 9 whereby said shaft is rotated upon the operation of the motor. It is obvious that this connection between the shaft 11 and the motor shaft may also be effected by means of spiral or beveled gears or an endless chain and sprockets. In Fig. 1 I have illustrated the electric circuit for the operation of the motors.

25 and 26 indicate the positive and negative'conducting wiresrespectively, of the electric-circuit which are connected to any suitable source of current supply. The joined wires 27 connect the negative circuit wire with the several operating motors, and the positive wire is connected to a reversing switch 28 arranged in the elevator car 6 to be actuated by the conductor. Wires 29 extend from a series of metallic contact strips 30 to each 'of the motors and a series of resilient contact plates 31 are suitably mounted upon the body of the elevator car for sliding contact with the strips 30. The plates 31 are connected by means of the wires 32 to binding posts of the switch 28. The strips 30 are so arranged with respect to the door openings 5 that the plates 31 on the car will contact therewith as the car approaches the door opening and thus connect the electric circuit through the current conducting wire 25, the switch 28, wires 32, the contact members 30 and 31, the wires 29, and through the motor 8 and wire 27 to the negative supply wire 26. Thus the shaft 11 is rotated in the proper direction to move the door 7 to its open position, the pin 20 in the sleeve secured to said door traveling in the spiral groove 16 of the shaft; When the conductor again starts the car, he reverses the opera tion of the motor 8 by throwing the switch 28, so that the door is again closed; It is understood of course that the metallic contact plates 31 are of such length that the contact strips 30 will remain in engagement therewith until the door has been fully closed. It will be noted that by providing the closely arranged turns of the spiral groove 16 at opposite ends thereof, the elevator door will not be subjected to shock or jar by violent contact of the same with the stops which limit its movement, as the speed of such movement will be decreased when the pin 20 enters the end portions 16 of the spiral groove 16, so that the door will slowly completeits opening or closing movements.

- While I have described the wire '25 as the positive wire and 26 as the negative wire, it

- will beunderstood that the current may flow in the opposite direction if desired.

From the foregoing it is believed that the msaeoi construction and manner of operation of my improved door operating mechanism will be clearly understood.

While the invention is primarily designed for use connection with elevator doors, it will be understood that the same is not limited to said use but may be adapted to other purposes for which an apparatus of this character may be found desirable or advantageous. Owing to the comparatively few elements employed in the construction of the apparatus, it will be appreciated that the same is highly durable, efiicient and-positive in operation and may be manufactured and installed at small cost. The doors leading into the elevator shaft will .be absolutely held in their closed position so that liability of the same being inadvertently left open by carelessness on the part of the conductor and thus endangering the lives of occupants of the building, is entirely avoided. By simply lifting the pins 20 to disengage the same from the spiral groove of the shaft 11, the door may be opened or closed by hand when the electrically operating means becomes unserviceable from any cause.

While I have shown and described the preferred construction and arrangement of the various parts, it will be obvious that the invention is susceptible of considerable modification without departing from the essential features or sacrificing any of the advantages thereof.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed is:

1. In a door operating apparatus, an operating shaft having a spiral groove, a sleeve surrounding the shaft, and means for imparting relative rotative movement of the sleeve'and shaft, of a device carried by the sleeve for imparting relative longitudinal movement of the sleeve and shaft, and means carried by the shaft for raising the last mentioned means from engagement with the groove.

2. In a door operating apparatus, a threaded operating shaft, a sleeve surrounding the shaft and meansfor imparting relative rotative movement of the sleeve and shaft, of a device carried by the sleeve for engaging the threads and causing relative longitudinal 'movement of the sleeve and shaft, and means carried by the shaft for automatically raising "the device from the thread.

3. The combination with a door, a threaded shaft, a sleeve surrounding the shaft, and means for imparting relative rotative movement of the shaft and sleeve, of a pin carr1ed by the sleeve for engagement with the thread to impart relative longitudinal movement of the sleeve and shaft, connections whereby the door will partake of the ion tudinal movement and means carried by t e shaft for raising the pin from the thread and stopping the longitudinal movement without stopping the rotative movement.

4. In a door operating apparatus, an operating shaft having a spiral groove, a sleeve surrounding the shaft, means for imparting relative rotative movement to the shaft and sleeve, means carried by the sleeve to engage the groove to impart relative longitudinal movement to the sleeve and shaft, the depth of the groove decreasing at the end thereof to force the groove engaging means from the groove and arrest the longitudinal movement.

5. In a door operating apparatus, an operating shaft having a spiral groove, a sleeve surrounding the shaft, means for imparting relative rotative movement to the shaft and sleeve, means carried by the sleeve to engage the groove to impart relative longitudinal movement to the sleeve and'shaft, the depth of the groove decreasing at each end thereof to force the groove engaging means from the groove and arrest the longitudinal movement.

6. In a door operating apparatus, an operating shaft provided with a spiral groove, a sleeve surrounding the shaft, means carried by the sleeve for engaging the groove, means carried by the shaft to raise the groove engaging means from the groove at a predetermined point on the shaft, and means for rotating the shaft.

7. In a door operating apparatus, an operating shaft, a sleeve surrounding the shaft, means for rotating the shaft, means for engaging the sleeve with the shaft to impart longitudinal movement to the sleeve,

and means for automatically disengaging the sleeve and shaft at a predetermined point on the shaft.

8. In a door operating apparatus, an op erating shaft provided with a spiral groove, a nut secured to the door to travel longitudinally upon said shaft, a spring-held pin, mounted in the nut and normally engaged in the groove of the shaft, said shaft being provided with means to force said springheld pin out of the groove when the same arrives at oneend thereof in the travel of the nut, and means for rotating said shaft.

9. In a door operating apparatus, an operating shaft, provided with a spiral groove,

a nut secured to the door to travelv longitudinally upon said shaft, a casing threaded in the nut, a pin arranged'in said casing and loosely movable in said nut, a springin the casing surrounding said pin and normally holding the same yieldingly in engagement r i with the groove of said shaft, the base of the spiral groove in the shaft being provided :at

its ends with cam surfaces merging: into the periphery of the shaft, to engage said pin and force the same out of thegroove at the end of the travel of said nut in each direction, means for securing said pin in a retracted position against the action of said spring. and means for rotating said shaft.

10. In an apparatus, for operating elevator doors, the combination with a car and doors to close the door openings leading into reversing switch on the car, connections be-' tween the switch and source of current supply, and connections between the switch and car contacts.

11. In an apparatus for operating elevator doors, the combination with a car and doors to close the door openings leading into the car shaft, 'of means associated with each of the doors to move the same to their open or closed position, a motor for each of said operating means geared thereto to actuate the same, an electric circuit for the motors including a seriesvof contact strips for each motor and connections between the same and the motor, a series of resilient contact plates carried by the car to engage said strips, a reversing switch on the car and connections between the same and the source of current supply, and wires connecting said switch to the contact plates.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aifix my signature in the presence of two witnesses. HOOD ,PITTS.

Witnesses:

W. NEAL WATT, W. L. Wrrscmm. 

